Ajit Karn
Dubai: After an earthquake in Turkey claimed at least 1,000 lives and left the war-torn nation in need of humanitarian aid, the United Arab Emirates offered $13.6 million to Syria on Monday, according to official media.
More than 1,651 people were killed in Turkey and an additional 1,000 people died in neighbouring Syria as a result of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred Monday morning in the Turkish city of Gaziantep.
According to the official news agency WAM, Emirati Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum “ordered urgent humanitarian relief to those impacted in Syria.”
It also stated that the support is worth 50 million dirhams.
Nations all over the world have quickly mobilised to provide help and rescue personnel to devastated areas.
According to WAM, the UAE has sent a first jet to the southern Turkish airport of Adana “with search and rescue teams, crews, and medical equipment.”
According to the news agency, the UAE also announced plans to build a field hospital in Turkey and send search and rescue personnel, emergency aid, and urgent relief supplies to Syria.
In two separate phone calls earlier on Monday, the Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan sent his sympathies to his Turkish and Syrian colleagues, according to WAM.
In an effort to lessen the effects of the earthquake, he “emphasised the UAE’s support for Syria and Turkey and promised to provide whatever assistance,” according to the statement.
Also read:- Syria-Turkiye earthquake kills 2,600; worldwide community aids
After years of boycott, the UAE reopened its embassy in the Syrian capital in December 2018, raising the possibility that this was an attempt to reconcile the administration of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with the Arab world.
Assad visited the UAE in March of last year; this was his first trip to an Arab country after more than a decade of deadly civil conflict.
